Provenance

Bequeathed by the artist in 1816 to James White of Exeter (1744–1825), on whose death it passed to Towne’s residuary legatee John Herman Merivale (1779–1844) and his successors. Merivale’s granddaughters Maria Sophia Merivale (1853–1928) and Judith Ann Merivale (1860–1945), both of Oxford, inherited the drawing in May 1915 (BP112), and in 1921 they gave it to Paul Oppé (1878–1957), who in turn bequeathed it to Aydua Scott-Elliot (1909–2003), who gave it in 1999 it to the current owner, the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (D.1999.22).

Comment

Just above the bridge over the Aberglaslyn (featured in FT086), Wyndham observed: “The whole river falls down a craggy break, of the height of about twelve feet. This is called the Salmon Leap, and our attention was many times diverted from the majestic scenery around us, by the dexterity of the salmon’s leaping over it.”1 Grimm’s drawing accompanying this description was engraved. John Byng, visiting Pont Aberglaslyn in 1784, wrote:

There are so many descriptions of this place, that I must retire from weak relation, on my part; and only exclaim that the scene is most truly wonderful! A narrow-winding road looking down on a foaming, stoney river; and overhung by the steepest mountains, much extravasated by old lead mines; threat’ning destruction to the astonish’d traveller. Below the bridge, we took a long stand to survey the gigantic products of nature, together with the salmon leap, 6 yards high, up which these fish will fling themselves. Upon the most craggy precipices, we cou’d discover some venerable goats, who did us the honour of gazing down upon us; and added lustre to the honour.2

An early photograph of this landscape (a Francis Bedford stereoview, ca. 1865) offers a comparison with the scene before it was overrun with trees. It confirms that Towne made significant alterations in order to maximize the scale and gloom of the mountains. Where Grimm has remained essentially faithful to the viewed scene, allowing the mountains to recede into the distance, Towne increases their height as they round the corner, blocking light out almost entirely. Unlike Grimm, Towne has also featured as a foreground the edge of the bridge or road, as if to suggest the precipitousness of the scene. Aydua Scott-Elliot suggested that Towne achieved these effects by combining elements from two separate points: he drew the salmon leap itself from a high viewpoint, then adopted a lower viewpoint to draw the mountains and the further portions of the river. This appears to be borne out by comparing the height from which the waterfall is seen here and its position relative to the bridge (ostensibly Towne’s viewpoint) in FT086. Judging by that drawing, Towne would have been far closer to the water than he is here. It is interesting also to compare Towne’s description in these two drawings of the same mountains. In FT086 the mountains to the right of the river recede into the background where here they loom darkly. Here, the mountain on the near side slopes gently to meet the road, whereas in FT086 it falls steeply.